


The Best That I Can Be

by axolotlnerd-campcamp (axolotlNerd)



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: David Adopts Max (Camp Camp), Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I think?, Max/vid shippers do not interact please!, Rated T For Max's Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 02:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18228728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axolotlNerd/pseuds/axolotlnerd-campcamp
Summary: It’s been just about a week since Max came to live with David, and things have been starting to get tense.





	The Best That I Can Be

It’s not that David had expected it to be all sunshine and rainbows from the very start, because he hadn’t. He was optimistic, not stupid, and he knew Max well enough to know he was going to sneer and grimace and yell as much as he always did. It wasn’t that he’d expected him to get better immediately.

He just hadn’t expected it to get worse.

The first couple of days were okay, and in the context of Max, they were amazing. The kid had mostly been quiet, and when he was offered the bedroom he sneered and muttered something about how he didn’t want to kick David onto his own couch. David had put his foot down, setting up the bedroom for him and setting up his own station on the sofa.

But then he started getting worse, losing snide comments about things he didn’t like and instead favoring a glare as he retreated to the room and slammed the door shut. After his doctor’s appointment and a meeting with the social worker and even a trip to the library he would just huff and leave, making a den out of the corner of the wall the bed had been shoved into and reading until dinner and then going to sleep.

It made David anxious. What if he was doing something wrong? Was he pushing the kid away with his attempts to help? Or was he not doing enough? What if he’d done something wrong?

It was a fearful voice in the back of his head, always gripping but never pulling.

 

Max hopped in the passenger’s seat of the car, throwing his hood over his head as soon as he shut the door. David knew Max would probably hate school, especially needing to visit before the year started, but since David had only just become a foster parent he still had papers he needed to fill out and people he needed to talk to. When no one could watch Max, he had to have him tag along.

But the trip must have been a bad experience, and as he started the car, he could feel the turmoil radiating off Max from his seat.

“You can turn on music if you want,” David said, pulling a smile despite his anxiety.

Max shook his head. “It’s fine.”

David felt his stomach turn, a strange mixture of  _bad_  settling there. The car ride home was tense and longer than it had been the first time around. When David opened the door to his small apartment, Max began to walk straight towards his room, shoulders tense and head hung low.

“Max?” David asked, and the kid stopped. “Are you okay? You seem… Upset.”

“Jesus  _Christ!”_  Max suddenly exclaimed, whipping around and taking his hood off. “I’m absolutely fucking  _fine!”_

People who were fine usually didn’t snap when they were asked.

David and Max just stood there for a long moment, David at a loss for words and Max bristling as he gritted his teeth. “I’m  _fine,”_ the kid emphasized. “Just leave me alone.”

He turned to walk down the hallway to the bedroom when David called to him. “Wait, Max, I-” He stuttered, but when the door slammed shut he was cut off. He came to the door, lightly tapping his knuckles on it. “Listen, I know something’s wrong, and I just wanted to let you know that I’m here to help-”

The door swung open, Max gripping the handle like a vice. “Don’t try to fix me.” He hissed. “I’m not broken.”

And with that, the door slammed shut again, David standing in front of it looking confused.

Maybe he had been pushing too hard for things to be okay? Maybe he had just been too much, trying too hard like he had been at camp.

But maybe he just hadn’t tried haard enough, yet. Maybe one more little push couldn’t hurt him any more than it already had.

“I don’t think you are.” David said, sitting down in front of the door crossed-legged. “I’m sorry if I’ve been pushing for things to get better too fast. I just want you to know that things are better here, and however they were at your last home, that’s in the past now. I don’t expect things to get better immediately, but… I’m still here for you if you need it.”

The door creaked open, and Max’s turquoise eyes peered through the crack in the door with suspicion. The kid let the door swing open just a bit more, sitting down too.

“Why are you doing all of this?”

“Well, I want to help you when you need it.” David replied.

“Not that. I mean all the other stuff.” He said grumpily, and David looked at him curiously, tilting his head almost like a dog. “You know. All that bullshit with the social workers and doctors and school. You go to these meetings, and all these classes, and you go to the library to check out books on fucking  _parenting_. You deal with the shitty doctor’s office and make them move the appointment before school starts even though it’s a pain in the ass and you don’t have the money for it anyways, and you do all this fucking paperwork, more than you even had to do back when Camp Corp took over.”

Max made wild gestures with his hands as he spoke, something David could only just make out as he tried to look through the half-open door. But when he finished, he stopped, putting his hands in his lap and looking at the floor.

“I’m just another inconvenience. Why do you even fucking bother?”

He hadn’t had a bad time at the doctors, or the library, or the school, he’d felt guilty. Like he’d somehow inconvenienced David by needing to be cared for, like any other child did. It explained why he would just shut himself off in his room, not avoiding him out of spite but to  _stay out of his way._ And that hurt David more than he would let himself show the kid.

 _Because that’s what a good parent does,_  he thought in response

“Because you deserve a good parent.” He said, and Max looked at him, almost confused. David leaned forward to push the door open just a bit more, scooting across the floor to sit next to Max. “I want to do the best I can to make this a good place for you. You’re not an inconvenience, you’re a kid. You deserve the best I can give you, and that means working with social workers and checking out books on parenting and paying for and moving doctor’s appointments. I bother because you deserve the best I can give you.”

He wrapped a hand around Max’s shoulder, not commenting as the kid leaned into him. “Yeah,” he muttered quietly, still not looking up. “Right.”

“You’re not an inconvenience.” David repeated, and Max huffed.

“Yeah, whatever.” Though he sounded caustic as usual, Max didn’t move.

It was nice change of pace, to feel like someone would do something for him without obligation. It was nice to know that someone cared.

**Author's Note:**

> This was from a request on my Tumblr, more-camp-camp-fic-please! If you have any requests, please don't hesitate to send them in!


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